Sunday, March 26, 2017

Character Types: Christ Figures

Welcome back to my monthly post on character types! Today,
because it’s so close to Easter, I’m going to be writing about another
prominent character: Christ Figures. Unlike with my previous posts, instead of
listing their characteristics, I will be going from character-to-character. From
popular classics to more obscure fiction, Christ Figures are prevalent. They
are often misunderstood by others and their self-sacrifice helps save
society/another character, whether physically, morally, or spiritually.

Disclaimer: I’d like to remind my audience that
Christ Figures are fictional characters.
They should not be regarded as exact representations. Similarly, my views on
such characters may differ from that of the reader, but I have done my best to
abide by the examples presented in literature and what Scripture tells us about
Christ. Because of the nature of this post, some spoilers may be present for The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Giver, King Lear, and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”.

Gandalf, Frodo, and
Aragorn (The Lord
of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien)

I’m a huge Lord of the
Rings fan. (As is evident by all references I’ve made in previous posts, my
last newsletter, and the yearly marathons I have with friends and family.) But
it wasn’t until a fellow author pointed out the roles of Christ Figures in the
books that I realized they were there at all. Thank you, Lisa! Unlike most
stories, instead of one character filling the role, three portray the different
Christ-like aspects.

Gandalf the Gray serves as the prophet, guiding the members
of the Fellowship on their quest. He sacrifices himself to save them and comes
back as Gandalf the White. He takes on the role that Saruman was supposed to
have, helping the folk of Middle Earth by freeing Theodin, guiding hobbits,
providing counsel, and fighting against the forces of Mordor.

Frodo serves as the priest, carrying the darkness of the One
Ring all the way from the green hills of the Shire to the fires of Mount Doom. Unlike
many of the characters in the book, he shows extraordinary resilience to power
of the Ring, and even shows compassion to Sméagol, even when he didn’t deserve
it.

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve
life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in
judgement.” –Gandalf, The Fellowship of
the Ring

Aragorn serves as the king. Like Jesus, he even has a
less-than honorable ideal genealogy. One of Aragorn’s ancestors, Isildur had
the opportunity to destroy the Ring but took it for his own, earning the Ring
another title—Isildur’s Bane. Unlike his ancestor, Aragorn turned away the
opportunity to take the Ring, and later went on to help liberate Rohan and
Gondor, command an army of the dead, and rule Gondor.

Controversy: Not only are the Christ Figures
difficult to identify at first glance, but they are also controversial. While
there may be three figures, the Trinity is made up of three figures (Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit), not three Christs. On the other hand, Frodo ultimately
gives in to the power of the Ring, and Gandalf is a wizard.

Perhaps one of the most devastating instances of my
fantasy-reading-career was when a lady from my church told me Tolkien couldn’t
possibly be a Christian because he wrote about wizards. (See Controversy in Fiction: Magic.) But again, readers should consider that these
characters are mere representations, not Christ themselves.

Aslan the Lion (The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis)

Perhaps one of the most well-known Christ Figures, at least
among fantasy fans, Aslan is the representation of Christ in the world of
Narnia.

“‘Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver, ‘don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver
tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.
He’s the King, I tell you.’”

In The Lion, The
Witch, and the Wardrobe, he takes Edmund’s place on the stone table,
sacrificing himself and later rising from the dead and defeating the White
Witch. But it doesn’t end there. In The
Magician’s Nephew, he helps create the world of Narnia; in The Horse and His Boy, he is the
protector and the guide throughout Shasta’s journey; and finally, in The Last Battle, he serves as the just
judge over the world. In fact, in each of the books, he portrays different
aspects of his role.

Controversy: Typically, I haven’t had a problem with
the way Lewis portrays Aslan as a Christ Figure. But there is one instance in The Last Battle that has led me to
question Lewis’ theology. Not only is the book the most abstract of all the
Chronicles, but it is also the most inclusive when it comes to the final
judgement.

Emeth, a Caloreme and the servant of the false god Tash, is
welcomed into the New Narnia by Aslan. That’s not to say that a Calormene
couldn’t follow Aslan, for Aravis does in The
Horse and His Boy. In the example of Emeth, readers get the sense that
Lewis might have been a Universalist.

“‘But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.’”

Jonas (The Giver by Lois Lowry)

While there are Christ Figures throughout Lowry’s The GiverQuartet, I have chosen to focus on the first because more people
tend to be familiar with the plot. But I would definitely recommend Messenger (The Giver, #3), if readers are looking for other good examples of a
Christ Figure.

Jonas lives in a futuristic world, which at first glance,
looks like a utopia. But as the story goes along, he begins to realize his
society’s need for somebody to shoulder the memories of the past. Like Christ,
he alone carries what society cannot bear to carry. In the end, he even goes
out of his way to save Gabe and help his community in a new way.

Controversy: Left by itself, The Giver leaves an open-ended question: Do Jonas and Gabe actually
make it to a new society, or do they die in the attempt? And what does their
death or their survival mean for Jonas’ potential for being a Christ Figure?

Cordelia (King Lear by William Shakespeare)

This tragedy opens with King Lear telling his three
daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia that whoever claims to love him most
will receive the largest of three portions of the kingdom. Cordelia tells her
father, “Good my Lord,You have begot me, bred me, loved me. IReturn those duties back as are fit… …Haply when I shall wed,That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carryHalf my love with him, half my care and duty.Sure I shall never marry like my sisters,To love my father all.”

While Goneril and Regan lie and flatter their father,
Cordelia is honest, sometimes brutally so, much to her father’s disdain. Like
Christ, Cordelia is cast out for being truthful despite her genuine love.
According to David Bevington (Complete Works of Shakespeare), Cordelia’s loss of
“the world in order to win a better world” parallels Scriptures such as the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 and Matthew 19:21 and Luke 1:52.

Controversy: Unlike the traditional Christ Figure, Cordelia
is female. Similarly, her ultimate death does not save her father physically,
though it may have saved him spiritually.

The Misfit (“A Good
Man is Hard to Find”

by Flannery O’Conner)

This is such a complex story that after having discussions
about it in college, I’m still not sure I understand it all. In this short
story, not only do readers come to realize that good men are rare, just as only
Christ was good, but they also see that it’s not always expected. Even though
the Jews waited for the Christ for a long, long time (at least 300 year), when
He finally came, they rejected him.

“Jesus thrown everything off balance. It was the same case
with Him as with me except He hadn't committed any crime and they could prove I
had committed one because they had the papers on me… I call myself the Misfit
because I can't make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in
punishment.”

Controversy: How can a criminal be a Christ Figure?
Christ was arrested and crucified for upsetting the spiritual leaders in the
Jewish faith tradition, but it’s not the same. What’s more, O’Conner didn’t
even intend for her character to be a Christ Figure. This story could be an
example of audiences reading too far into the plot and the characters. Or not.

Other notable Christ
Figures can be found in The
Chronicles of Prydian, The Faerie Queene,
Harry Potter, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games,
Messenger, Methuselah’s Gift, The Space
Trilogy, ATale of Two Cities, Tales of
Goldstone Wood, Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
and Where the Woods Grow Wild. For
the sake of space (and sanity), not every figure could be analyzed.

I’ve heard it said that if you want to know how people view
Christ, see how they write about Him. In the end, fictional representations of
Christ are also representations of each author’s perspective. (Then you have
the whole argument that writers don’t always agree with everything they write.)
If readers are looking for a more accurate Christ, I would recommend reading
Scripture itself. Nevertheless, Christ Figures often give stories meaningful
themes that readers can reflect on for years to come.

Literary references: The Lord of the Rings and The
Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, The
Chronicles of Narnia and The Space
Trilogy by C. S. Lewis, The GiverQuartet by Lois
Lowry, King Lear by William
Shakespeare, David Bevington’s The
Complete Works of Shakespeare, “A Good Man is Hard
to Find” by Flannery O’Conner, The Chronicles of Prydian by Lloyd Alexander, The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Methuselah’s Gift by Mary Elizabeth
Edgren, ATale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Tales of Goldstone Wood by Anne Elisabeth
Stengl, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Where the Woods Grow Wild by Nathan
Philbrick.

Let’s chat! Who is your favorite Christ Figure in fiction? (Spoilers
welcome with warning! 😊)
Who is the most controversial Christ Figure you know of? Are there any major
(or obscure; I like obscure) examples I left out?